MICHIGAN, USA — Thursday evening severe weather hit Michigan with 7 confirmed tornadoes touching down.
The storms left 200,000 homes and businesses without power across the state. Since then, Consumers has been working to turn the lights back on for those affected.
Saturday night around 9 p.m. Consumers reported they've restored power to 110,000 of the 200,000 affected homes and businesses with the help of crews from six states.
“Over 660 crews are working across the communities we serve, making this one of the largest mobilizations Consumers Energy has ever carried out to bring the lights back on,” said Norm Kapala, one of Consumers Energy’s Officers in Charge for the power restoration. “We are committed to our customers and working to ensure that most of them will finish the weekend with power.”
On Sunday, Consumers Energy will also be providing free meals in the communities of Grand Ledge, Grass Lake and Manchester as a goodwill gesture to the communities where the damage was "particularly severe." Details of the events are available on Consumers Energy’s Facebook page.
Kapala also continued to urge people to be alert to all crews working alongside roadways, asking drivers to slow down or stop and wait for oncoming traffic to clear so they safely can go past workers on roadsides.
Consumers Energy urges the public to keep important safety tips in mind:
- Stay at least 25 feet away from downed power lines, and to report unguarded downed lines by calling 9-1-1 and Consumers Energy at 800-477-5050.
- Never use a generator in an attached garage, basement, enclosed patio or near any air intakes. Doing so could cause a generator to produce hazardous levels of carbon monoxide, an odorless, colorless and deadly gas. Read more guidance on safe generator use here.
- Consumers Energy will trim or remove trees interfering with electric restoration activities. Once safe to do so, clean-up of debris from tree trimming or removal during a storm emergency is the responsibility of individual property owners.
- In some cases, the mast that holds the electric service wires to a home or business may have been damaged or torn away. Crews will reconnect the wires to a home, but only a licensed electrician can repair or replace a mast or a cable.
Customers can continue to check the status of outages at www.ConsumersEnergy.com/OutageCenter. They can also sign up to get outage alerts and restoration times sent to a phone, email or text message, Text ‘REG' to 232273 or visit www.ConsumersEnergy.com/alerts.
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